In his Harvard commencement speech on Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg advocated exploring a system in which all people
receive a standard salary just for being alive, no questions
asked.

The system, known as universal basic income, is one of the
trendiest economic theories of the past few years. Experiments in basic
income have popped up in Kenya, the Netherlands, Finland,
Canada, and Oakland, California, among other places.

Basic-income advocates say the changing nature of work — from
human labor to artificially intelligent robots — combined with
rising wealth inequality signal the need for an overhaul of how
money is distributed.

"We should have a society that measures progress not just by
economic metrics like GDP, but by how many of us have a role we
find meaningful," Zuckerberg told the crowd. "We should explore
ideas like universal basic income to make sure everyone has a
cushion to try new ideas."

The statement was Zuckerberg's first public endorsement of the
idea, which makes him
somewhat late to the party, as far as Silicon Valley goes.
Tech executives like Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Y Combinator President
Sam Altman, and Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes — who runs a
basic-income fund called the Economic Security
Project — have endorsed basic income.

Many point to economic forecasts that say robots will displace
much of the human workforce in the coming decades. A
report from Oxford University in 2013, for instance, found
that about 50% of jobs could be taken over within the next 10 to
20 years. A McKinsey report released in 2015 backed up that
prediction, suggesting that today's technology could feasibly
replace 45% of jobs right now.

"As our technology keeps on evolving, we need a society that is
more focused on providing continuous education through our
lives," Zuckerberg said. "And yes, giving everyone the freedom to
pursue purpose isn't going to be free. People like me should pay
for it, and a lot of you are going to do really well, and you
should, too."